This is Saint Mary's Action Plan (sorry about the spelling on the link!!!). The grey filled sections show what we have done so far and the light grey text are ideas we are still toying with, added to the plan after the workshop. It is still a work in progress though !!!!!!! Hope everyone is going well with their plans. I look forward to seeing others to get ideas on how to plan and set it out.
Cheers, Melissa.
June Already!!!!!
We have been busy exploring the use of Technology in our classrooms. Thanks to Eliza from Sydney and Matt Smith from the Dio office for conducting our INSPIRING IT professional development day on Thursday 27th May. Thanks also to Hillston, Deniliquin & Simone from Balranald for attending. This was an excellent inservice on using the ActivInspire boards and Promethean Planet. We were given so many resources to utilise and the day was all hands on experience! A very worthwhile inservice for any school wanting inspiration and ideas on how to fully utilise your interactive whiteboards (ActivInspire boards & Smart boards). Also a big thanks to Simone Harding who ran the group through the use of Atomic Learning at the end of the day.
Time to update!
I've put in the new link to our updated action plan. So far we are on track. I've also posted where each teacher is headed with their own professional development in IT and how we are utilising our IT release days. As you will see we are all taking different directions and will share at staff meetings about what we discovered and how we can use the different resources available to us.
Scootle & Atomic Learning.
Below I have posted the power points created by our IT Donna Wade which she used to help inservice our staff on Atomic Learning & Scootle. Donna is happy for anyone to use them if needed.
IDEAS ANYONE??
We are wondering if anyone has a set of Activotes and ideas on how they may use them in the classroom. We would like to create some sort of "ideas bank" so please let us know. We are also interested to see how you teach computer skills to your Kindergarten class and whether there are any good programs which are like a tutorial they could follow with a head set. Love to hear your ideas! Happy Wiki writing!
Cheers Melissa
.
New resorces we are going to experiment with:
We have recently purchased a class set of Activotes which teachers will be incorporating into their lessons and using for assessing as well! Katie Sherman on our staff met yesterday with Matthew from Hillston on her way back from a conference to get some more insight into using this product. Thanks Matt for your help!
Each Scholastics Book Club order the school puts in earns the school credit points which can be used to pay for resources the teachers would like from the book club issues. We are on the look out especially for IT resources. Veronica Tripney, a current staff memebr and our book club coordinator ordered the great graphic organiser book below for the staff to have a play with. It comes with a CD with the 50 organisers on it and they can be used with our interactive whiteboards. I'll post later on down the track how this resource has been used in the classroom!
We would love to get some feed back from anyone who has used the Activotes and how they have used them!
Happy Wiki writing! Melissa.
New graphic organiser book
An example of an Activote we have purchased to use in our classrooms.
July Update
Hi everyone. All is still going well here in Hay. We have Two Activboards installed in our Kinder classroom and our computer room in the holidays just gone so we now have them installed in all of the classrooms. Kindergarten are so excited and enthusiastic about using the board and it really keeping my little cherubs so much more on task as they are a very active group!!!! I purchased a new resource in the holidays "Macmillan Masterclass Interactive Whiteboards" which is a "practical guide for primary teachers" in using the interactive whiteboards. It has some great ideas, which are step by step, for making your lessons engaging and personal for the children. It also comes with a CD which has a copy of the examples used in the book. It was quite a good read and we are passing it around our staff at the moment. There is a picture of the book below.
Watch this space for our Interactive Whiteboard successes - will be posting in two weeks time!!!
Action Plan revisited.
We have reviewed our action plan and added some extras we thought were important for us to reach our goal. Here is the updated action plan if you are interested in having a look. The third page in this document outlines how each teacher has utilized their Term 2 IT day which has been funded by the Diocesan Office. We have found having this day excellent as it gives us the time to look for resources and plan lessons and we have our IT, Donna Wade, on stand by if we need her support on these days. Cheers Melissa.
POWER POINT PRESENTATION
Below is our Power Point Presentation from our last LTLL meeting here in Hay for the Southern Cluster. It was great to see what everyone is doing and get some feedback as well.
We have now begun the process of identifying our high achievers and setting in place a type of "Learning Centre" approach to further extend them. This program will run each Wednesday and Thursday afternoon during Term 4. Janet Low (ICT) and Melissa Hill (LT) will faciliatae this program. We will work with four different groups (18 students altogether) targeting Literacy and Numeracy extension. Janet will work with one group on Wednesdays and Melissa will work with a different group on Thursdays.
Target groups are well on their way! The children involved in the target groups are well into their research and using technology to present their findings. Last Term the staff chose the children to be on the program. I devised a 5 week plan to follow using the First Steps Reading "Information Process" chapter and incorporating Intergrated Inquiry based techniques where I could. There will be two rotations of groups this Term. The parents were informed about the project through a letter home and were asked to help their child, through discussion, to choose a topic or area they would like to know more about during the holidays so that the program could start straight away this Term. The children are going to present their project to their peers and take them home on a thumb drive to present to their families too. Below is a picture of the start to our graffitti wall during our first session. (28/10/2010)
Beginning of our graffitti wall
NOVEMBER UPDATE
Our first rotation of groups has only one more session to go. The children are really getting into it and have learnt about using Photostory and Powerpoint more effectively. In hind sight more time will be needed for each rotation if we continue these groups next year. Another positive from this experience has been that it has sparked great conversation between families and their children with some parents commenting that they have learnt something too! This week also sees the start of the junior groups. One of these groups will be concentrating on Mathematics extension using technology.
RECENT TECHNOLOGY VENTURES BY THE STAFF
We have recently purchased the school set of Maths Plus Interactive Whiteboard CDs for use in the classroom. Teachers are enjoying the interactive activities which are on the CD for each substand. This has been a great addition to our maths lessons this Term. We have also continued to share great websites with each other through our "Interactive Whiteboard Sites" folder on our staff server. One great site Julie has introduced us to, which is used as a warm up for most of our maths lessons as it has such a range of activities, is the Top Marks Speed Challenge website. Even the Kinders use this as mental maths and the "timer" allows you to set how long you want each algorithm to be viewed on the screen.
End of year update. Merry Christmas!
We have completed our enrichment groups which have been run over this Term. Three groups worked on extending their interests using technology and we had one group of Stage 1 boys who worked on Numeracy extension using the technology and all of the great resources you can find online. The groups were very successfull but if we continue these next year we will have to give each group more time to put their info and presentation together. Next Thursday at our end of year staff development day the staff will discuss where to next with our LTLL plan. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas. Speak to you in Wiki land next year. Cheers Melissa.
Hi for 2011. Where to next? We have decided that the enrichment groups were of great benefit to our students but would like to give all the opportunity to use technology further. We have registered to do the "Collie" project through the CAP web site. Our "amber" lights in Focus 6: Authentic Learning were: * Standards for learning -Challenges students in all areas of their development -Provides for individual differences through curriculum differentiation -Organises the program within and across stages -Develops a curriculum for authentic learning experiences. * Organising for Learning -Uses technology to support teaching and learning -Uses a variety of groupings reflecting differing ability / interest. Years 4,5 & 6 have begun this week with the Collie Adventure titled "Aussie Collie OiOiOi". Collie is a gnome who is travelling through Australia. The children will study famous Australian people and events, explore the significance of particular people, groups, places, actions and events in the past which has developed Australian's identity and heritage. The unit has been designed to support the Satge 3 HSIE BOS unit relating to Significant events and people - Australian Identity CCS3.1
Snapshots of our final presentation March 14th, 2011
Cheers, Melissa.
June Already!!!!!
We have been busy exploring the use of Technology in our classrooms. Thanks to Eliza from Sydney and Matt Smith from the Dio office for conducting our INSPIRING IT professional development day on Thursday 27th May. Thanks also to Hillston, Deniliquin & Simone from Balranald for attending. This was an excellent inservice on using the ActivInspire boards and Promethean Planet. We were given so many resources to utilise and the day was all hands on experience! A very worthwhile inservice for any school wanting inspiration and ideas on how to fully utilise your interactive whiteboards (ActivInspire boards & Smart boards). Also a big thanks to Simone Harding who ran the group through the use of Atomic Learning at the end of the day.
Time to update!
I've put in the new link to our updated action plan. So far we are on track. I've also posted where each teacher is headed with their own professional development in IT and how we are utilising our IT release days. As you will see we are all taking different directions and will share at staff meetings about what we discovered and how we can use the different resources available to us.
Scootle & Atomic Learning.
Below I have posted the power points created by our IT Donna Wade which she used to help inservice our staff on Atomic Learning & Scootle. Donna is happy for anyone to use them if needed.
IDEAS ANYONE??
We are wondering if anyone has a set of Activotes and ideas on how they may use them in the classroom. We would like to create some sort of "ideas bank" so please let us know. We are also interested to see how you teach computer skills to your Kindergarten class and whether there are any good programs which are like a tutorial they could follow with a head set. Love to hear your ideas! Happy Wiki writing!
Cheers
Melissa
.
New resorces we are going to experiment with:
We have recently purchased a class set of Activotes which teachers will be incorporating into their lessons and using for assessing as well! Katie Sherman on our staff met yesterday with Matthew from Hillston on her way back from a conference to get some more insight into using this product. Thanks Matt for your help!
Each Scholastics Book Club order the school puts in earns the school credit points which can be used to pay for resources the teachers would like from the book club issues. We are on the look out especially for IT resources. Veronica Tripney, a current staff memebr and our book club coordinator ordered the great graphic organiser book below for the staff to have a play with. It comes with a CD with the 50 organisers on it and they can be used with our interactive whiteboards. I'll post later on down the track how this resource has been used in the classroom!
We would love to get some feed back from anyone who has used the Activotes and how they have used them!
Happy Wiki writing!
Melissa.
July Update
Hi everyone. All is still going well here in Hay. We have Two Activboards installed in our Kinder classroom and our computer room in the holidays just gone so we now have them installed in all of the classrooms. Kindergarten are so excited and enthusiastic about using the board and it really keeping my little cherubs so much more on task as they are a very active group!!!! I purchased a new resource in the holidays "Macmillan Masterclass Interactive Whiteboards" which is a "practical guide for primary teachers" in using the interactive whiteboards. It has some great ideas, which are step by step, for making your lessons engaging and personal for the children. It also comes with a CD which has a copy of the examples used in the book. It was quite a good read and we are passing it around our staff at the moment. There is a picture of the book below.
Watch this space for our Interactive Whiteboard successes - will be posting in two weeks time!!!
Action Plan revisited.
We have reviewed our action plan and added some extras we thought were important for us to reach our goal. Here is the updated action plan if you are interested in having a look. The third page in this document outlines how each teacher has utilized their Term 2 IT day which has been funded by the Diocesan Office. We have found having this day excellent as it gives us the time to look for resources and plan lessons and we have our IT, Donna Wade, on stand by if we need her support on these days. Cheers
Melissa.
POWER POINT PRESENTATION
Below is our Power Point Presentation from our last LTLL meeting here in Hay for the Southern Cluster. It was great to see what everyone is doing and get some feedback as well.
Targeting our higher achievers.
We have now begun the process of identifying our high achievers and setting in place a type of "Learning Centre" approach to further extend them. This program will run each Wednesday and Thursday afternoon during Term 4. Janet Low (ICT) and Melissa Hill (LT) will faciliatae this program. We will work with four different groups (18 students altogether) targeting Literacy and Numeracy extension. Janet will work with one group on Wednesdays and Melissa will work with a different group on Thursdays.
Target groups are well on their way!
The children involved in the target groups are well into their research and using technology to present their findings. Last Term the staff chose the children to be on the program. I devised a 5 week plan to follow using the First Steps Reading "Information Process" chapter and incorporating Intergrated Inquiry based techniques where I could. There will be two rotations of groups this Term. The parents were informed about the project through a letter home and were asked to help their child, through discussion, to choose a topic or area they would like to know more about during the holidays so that the program could start straight away this Term. The children are going to present their project to their peers and take them home on a thumb drive to present to their families too. Below is a picture of the start to our graffitti wall during our first session. (28/10/2010)
NOVEMBER UPDATE
Our first rotation of groups has only one more session to go. The children are really getting into it and have learnt about using Photostory and Powerpoint more effectively. In hind sight more time will be needed for each rotation if we continue these groups next year. Another positive from this experience has been that it has sparked great conversation between families and their children with some parents commenting that they have learnt something too! This week also sees the start of the junior groups. One of these groups will be concentrating on Mathematics extension using technology.
RECENT TECHNOLOGY VENTURES BY THE STAFF
We have recently purchased the school set of Maths Plus Interactive Whiteboard CDs for use in the classroom. Teachers are enjoying the interactive activities which are on the CD for each substand. This has been a great addition to our maths lessons this Term. We have also continued to share great websites with each other through our "Interactive Whiteboard Sites" folder on our staff server. One great site Julie has introduced us to, which is used as a warm up for most of our maths lessons as it has such a range of activities, is the Top Marks Speed Challenge website. Even the Kinders use this as mental maths and the "timer" allows you to set how long you want each algorithm to be viewed on the screen.
End of year update. Merry Christmas!
We have completed our enrichment groups which have been run over this Term. Three groups worked on extending their interests using technology and we had one group of Stage 1 boys who worked on Numeracy extension using the technology and all of the great resources you can find online. The groups were very successfull but if we continue these next year we will have to give each group more time to put their info and presentation together. Next Thursday at our end of year staff development day the staff will discuss where to next with our LTLL plan. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas. Speak to you in Wiki land next year.
Cheers
Melissa.
Hi for 2011.
Where to next? We have decided that the enrichment groups were of great benefit to our students but would like to give all the opportunity to use technology further. We have registered to do the "Collie" project through the CAP web site. Our "amber" lights in Focus 6: Authentic Learning were:
* Standards for learning
-Challenges students in all areas of their development -Provides for individual differences through curriculum differentiation -Organises the program within and across stages -Develops a curriculum for authentic learning experiences.
* Organising for Learning
-Uses technology to support teaching and learning -Uses a variety of groupings reflecting differing ability / interest.
Years 4,5 & 6 have begun this week with the Collie Adventure titled "Aussie Collie OiOiOi". Collie is a gnome who is travelling through Australia. The children will study famous Australian people and events, explore the significance of particular people, groups, places, actions and events in the past which has developed Australian's identity and heritage. The unit has been designed to support the Satge 3 HSIE BOS unit relating to Significant events and people - Australian Identity CCS3.1